It is a sad, sad day.

[JeepGal]

tam, you have a repoir with del... can you get in touch with him to find out what is happening out there?

I havent spoke to him, however, I read a few dozen posts on Pirates (very heated exchanges between him and a few people over there.

Its a very touchy subject. It seems there were plans to do SOMETHING SOMETIME to the Gatekeeper. That sometime became NOW and that something became BLOWING apart the two big rocks. The reasons given were primarily for erosion, but Im sure there is more to it. Gatekeeper had been paved a few times to keep the water from washing away the top soil, but it was only temporary. It seems that it had also became an attration to watch people break stuff. Where the crowds all hang out and jeer others on (like Little Sluice). These two reasons caused people to look for bypasses, which were all illegal. The answer to both was to demo it and rebuild it so that the water can get through without causing additional erosion.

2003:


2004:


2005:





I couldnt find a clear shot of the dirt hill behind the Jeeps But kiss those two big rocks goodbye, they are now just pebbles on Gatekeeper.

Im sorry that Erik and Chris didnt run Little Sluice this last year. Glad Chris was able to run it in '04:



RIP Gatekeeper...and soon Little Sluice.

Tam

[blackZZR]

Del may be on it , seems he rolled his jeep and it is down for repairs, he probly has a lot of time right now
I have been reading a few boards and sites looking for more info on Little sluice, and gatekeeper. It is funny how somesites like FOTR are silent about it and they should be on top of it. any way it seems they are trying to direct traffic and to stop erosion just as Tammy said, Maybe they want to move the main entrence obsticle a little down the trail, I have yet to find out what the plans are.
I will say this, I left quite a bit of oxidized red paint on those rocks, My old five seemed to breath fire when she saw them, twice she made it protesting all the way and this year I was thinking of taking the TJ up to test her there. Running the Con will be different without it, last time we were there, she took them 3 times, Once over, once back as we ran looking for a steering knucle for a rover, and once back.
I will miss Gatekeeper

I assume we are talking Del Albright

[RangerRick]

Heard it from a friend who..... Was there!

Well I regret to inform everyone on the board that if you have a 2 WD vehicle, you can now drive to the granite bowl with it. This on good authority from a friend who lives near Citrus Heights and wheels the Rubicon in his Rubicon every weekend.
AND I DIRECT QUOTE HIM HERE: "yea we were up there right after they blasted and its 2wd to the granite slab if your locked and driver of coarse...yea!" Good thing I've run it many times BEFORE they blasted it out!

Rubicon Rick OllllllO
:mad:

[cjdirtbiker]

Happy New Year, y'all.

The Rubicon thread on Pirate has had pretty good coverage on this subject and politics of the Rubicon Trail: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=29 There was a lot of talk right after the blast, everyone was pretty disappointed. Apparently the county just 'took action'. I've been trying to follow it but have been out and away for awhile.

I'm not sure why FOTR doesn't update, it seems to be pretty PC. But the pirate threads get into detail from the various members that frequent the trail and have been part of maintaining it. Yes, it's a big fight over there as usual.

I'm up for the Duesy/Swamp Lake this year, Moab too. Not sure if it will be EJS or an MJR trip.

I wanted to visit the Hammers trails last weekend but it was too windy and we just stayed in camp. There were some rigs out on the hiway though whe we came thru from the Palm Springs area on Friday.

Laters...